Six years ago, Brian and Heather Marks found themselves in a spice market in Delhi, India. Somewhere between tasting the exotic garam masala and a classic curry, they looked at each other and said, “It’s shame we don’t have something like this at home.”

A few days later, while touring an Indian peppercorn plantation, their spark of an idea turned into a flaming passion to share hot and spicy flavors with Clevelanders. Heather’s Heat and Flavor is the result.

Two retail locations feature hundreds of hot sauces — including Bite Me! and Satan’s Blood — that span the culinary heat scale, plus barbecue slathers, salsas and more than 130 varieties of flavor-packed, late-harvest herbs and spices including rare ones such as long pepper from Bali, smoked paprika and citrusy grains of paradise. They even carry genuine wasabi, which, according to Brian, most Americans have never experienced. What we usually get is an imitation made from domestic ground horseradish, mustard seed and green food coloring. This one uses true, unadulterated Japanese horseradish root. Heather’s Heat and Flavor isn’t out to make you feel the burn; they just want you to taste the adventure. Find them at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst, (216) 291-3450, and First and Main in Hudson, (330) 653-5131.